Submitted by Regional KidsFirst
If you sing number songs when you walk, drive of cuddle with your child... Your toddler will: hear the order of numbers; use todder talk to imitate the songs and order of numbers; and, imitate counting, although she may get the order wrong.
Introducing the idea of numbers to your children does not have to be a fight. In fact, as a parent, you can start introducing number sequence as early as 12 months old. Fun ways you can do this is by singing songs or nursery rhymes that are based on numbers.
Such songs as "One, two, buckle my shoe," or "Five little pumpkins sitting on a fence," are great ways to help your child remember the numbers and sequences.
When your child is around the 2 year old mark, they might be able to sing the songs and remember the numbers, but not quite understand the concepts. This is a time of many mistakes - and that is ok! If your child is counting - "One, two, five, six" just means that she is learning the correct names.
With a bit of time and practice he will learn to point to objects and label them with numbers. To help your child understand the concepts of numbers, take daily activities to re-enforce the counting. "One napkin for mommy, one napkin for daddy, one for you! One, two, three napkins!" At first, your child might only see three napkins regardless of how many are actually on the table. However, at some point he will start to understand that the word "three" actually means there are only three napkins on the table.
